Advancing The Issue: Childhood Education

Exercises And Discussions Help Kids Deal The Sterotypes That Can Begin Forming As Early As 3 Years Old.

In Some Calif. Preschools, 'A' Is For Anti-bias

July 21, 2007|By CARLA RIVERA / Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — As soon as Violet Feldman laid eyes on her cousin's short haircut, she wanted one, too. The 5-year-old begged her parents to trim her dark brown locks just like his. They eventually gave in.

Violet loved her hairdo until she walked into her preschool class at Temple Israel of Hollywood. "You look like a boy!" a few children blurted out. Violet was devastated. She couldn't wait for her hair to grow and made sure to wear a headband every day.

It was the kind of painful lesson that many young children endure, be it for having darker skin than other classmates, an accent that sounds different or a disability that provokes taunting. But in Violet's case, teachers confronted the incident, speaking with students about understanding and respecting differences and pointing out that some girls have short hair and some boys have long hair.

Similar lessons on cultural, racial and religious diversity have been incorporated into Temple Israel's ongoing curriculum as part of the A World of Difference Institute, a program recently adopted by the school.

TOLERANCE FOR TOTS

Sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League's Miller Early Childhood Initiative, it is one of the few anti-bias programs specifically for preschoolers, drawing on research showing that children begin to perceive differences and attach negative or positive values to them as early as age 3.

Now operating in 14 cities, the program trains teachers in strategies to confront prejudice and uses specially designed materials developed with the characters from "Sesame Street." The goal is to teach tolerance, respect and inclusion in a way that is geared to young minds.

"We really wanted to focus on building the right foundations," said Lindsay Friedman of A World of Difference Institute. "We know that biases and stereotyping are seeping in even at this age, but this is meant to be a preventive approach, not as much countering negative messages as building positive ones."

The program already has had an effect at Temple Israel, said nursery school principal Sherry Fredman.

"We used to devote the entire month of January to Martin Luther King, but this program has expanded our focus," she said. "We've broadened our curriculum, and now it's an everyday part of life."

After Violet's classmates realized they had hurt her feelings, several apologized to her, and one child's parent wrote her a note.

On another occasion, a parent recalled being mortified when her daughter pointed to a Hispanic shopper while at the supermarket and said, "Look, Mom, a nanny," which prompted another classroom discussion, said Beth Weisman, assistant principal of the nursery school.

The children are developing a growing consciousness of how their behavior can affect others, said teacher Esther Posin. "Sometimes out in the schoolyard I'll hear, 'Teacher Esther said we're not supposed to do this,' " Posin said. "Society is very 'me' centered, and my hope with this program is that they'll start focusing less on 'me' and more on 'us.' "

BIAS CAN BEGIN EARLY

The program gives educators the resources to combat prejudice in all forms, but at the fairly homogenous Temple Israel, many of the issues that crop up normally involve gender roles, Weisman said.

In the Santa Ana Unified School District, where the program is operating in 11 schools and community centers as part of the Kinder Readiness Program, 4-year-olds learn about their own heritage and to appreciate others, said readiness coordinator Marjorie Cardenas.

When teachers at the center at the Warwick Square Apartments noticed that the children avoided dolls with Asian or black features, they decided to talk about how, although the dolls were different, they wanted to be loved like the others.

"One of the girls later told me, 'Teacher, I'm going to play with her because it looks like she really needs me,' " Irene Carpio said. "Hopefully, if these kids go to the park with parents and they see an Asian child or an African-American child, they're not going to be afraid to approach them."

Studies have shown that children learn social cues at an early age from their environment, the media, and especially from the behavior and words of caregivers and family members.

About 85 percent of the brain develops during ages 3 to 5, and impressions formed after age 2 are lasting, said Linda A. Santora of the Anti-Defamation League. One study found that 50 percent of children formed racial biases by age 6, she said.

Temple Israel educators said they have become more comfortable dealing with potentially thorny issues, including a 4-year-old girl who said she wanted to be a boy and told her parents, "I think I made the wrong decision in your tummy," and the father who became infuriated when his son wanted to put on a princess dress during a play period. *